Spaniard insists star man is still a work in progress and predicts this will
be the toughest Premier League season ever

To appreciate why Everton are in such good hands with Roberto Martínez, one need only listen to him talk about Ross Barkley, describing how the 20-year-old can become “an England great” yet also reminding the attacking midfielder that his club place is not guaranteed, that persistence is required.

Everton kick off the new Premier League season with confidence continuing to rise under Martínez, who has secured the permanent services of Romelu Lukaku and Gareth Barry, brought in the promising-looking midfielder Mo Besic and carried on working to develop Barkley and other prospects.

Martínez is such an engaging, smiling individual, and a popular television pundit, that people do not fully see his tough side. “He needs to improve in playing games,’’ said Martínez of Barkley. “Sometimes we go on potential and put a lot of pressure on a lad. Ross is an incredible character. I’ve never seen someone so well balanced and someone after being involved in the World Cup who hasn’t changed in training. If anything it’s the opposite. He wants to be even more focused and humble.

“He’s quite a unique talent. I don’t think we’ve had one like that for many generations, never mind for many years because it’s quite rare to find someone who is so technically gifted, but then has got the physicality to go with it, then the personality – someone who emotionally is very, very composed. Those three aspects you don’t get together in one player, especially at his age.”

It felt slightly rude interrupting Martínez’s paean but what about Wayne Rooney? “Ross always sees Wayne as an incredible figure, obviously as an Evertonian growing up and there are things [in his game] that take you back to what Wayne was doing as a young man. But they are very much different, although I do think they could play together [with England].”

England’s manager, Roy Hodgson, criticised Barkley before the World Cup, saying he had to be more risk-averse in possession. “I think what Roy was probably doing was to bring a dose of realism to stop the public from getting carried away and expecting Ross to win you the game at the World Cup,’’ replied Martínez.

“Ross is a young player and I believe he has got everything to become an England great. But we need to allow him to make mistakes and to grow. We need to allow him to play his football and compete for his place. And that is what he has at Everton. At Everton he hasn’t got his place guaranteed, he has only a narrow focus of being as good as he can to play on Saturday and that simplifies things.

“It is true sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and value players by their potential and not what they are doing on the pitch and Ross needs that time.” These are good times at Goodison, back in Europe, buying talent, reviving fans’ expectations. “When I arrived at Everton we had a football club with an incredible history and we need to cope with those expectations,’’ Martínez said. “We embrace those expectations. We worked extremely hard to be in Europe. They are realistic expectations.

“We wanted continuity from last season. If you ask any Evertonian the wish was to sign players like Barry and Lukaku permanently, so we did everything we did – the support from the chairman [Bill Kenwright] and the board has been magnificent. It shows a clear planning, a clear way to bring the things that we want.

“We sold £40 million value (last year) in Fellaini, Anichebe and Jelavic and we spent £13 million on James McCarthy and now we bought Lukaku so in terms of money we have balanced very well.”

He was determined to make Lukaku’s loan move from Chelsea permanent. “At the end of the season it wasn’t clear we were going to get him. At 21, Lukaku is one of the best players in world football. The stats show it – the amount of goals he has scored at a young age.” The Belgian scored 16 times in 33 appearances for Everton last season and 17 in 38 on loan to West Brom the previous campaign. “Everything he has as a striker is exactly what we wanted long term. So that is a real success. Sometimes you spend a big amount on a player and that puts massive, massive pressure on him because he has to settle in and fulfill expectations. With him it’s almost the opposite: it’s allowing Rom to be more confident and happier because we showed incredible faith.

“Possibly every Evertonian wished to have him at Goodison on a permanent basis. If anything, you’ll never get another season where you have to pay a record fee for a player without any pressure on him at all because that’s what everyone wanted and knew what to expect because you haven’t got false expectations. He’s a very natural signing.

“Rom fits in at Everton extremely well. You see him enjoying his football and the crowd recognises that. We have a great tradition with No 9s [he wears No 10] and it’s not easy to find a No 9 that will satisfy the Goodison crowd. But the love is there for him and for what he is as a player. Sometimes you need that so that you can enjoy your football and perform.’’

The squad is stronger, particularly with those loans made permanent, but not much bigger. “We have the same players but they are a year older, with more experience and have incredible talent,’’ Martínez added. “We bought Mo Besic and we have another loan signing from Chelsea, Christian Atsu.

“Players like John Stones, Seamus Coleman, Ross Barkley, even Tony Hibbert signed a new contract and it gives you a real continuity.”

Under Martínez, Everton went close to qualifying for the Champions League last season, finishing with 72 points which would have brought the golden ticket in three of the four previous seasons. “Our campaign was worthy of Champions League football and that is what we can work on.

“If I’m honest, going into the Europa League is probably more what we need, rather than going straight into the Champions League and not being ready for it.”

Everton will take the Europa League seriously. “Of course! We’ve been fighting for 10 months to get into Europe and it would be stupid not to take it seriously. We want to be challengers. But the ultimate aim of getting into the Champions League will always be there.”

He knows the challenge this season, having seen so many Premier League teams strengthen.

“I don’t recall another season where four or five teams will be having a thought of winning the league and up to six or seven teams thinking of the prospect of getting into the Champions League. This is the most competitive league in world football, even the most competitive in Premier League history.

“We have to cope with playing in Europe and not be affected domestically, but that is a challenge we can get used to.”